TRIAL: Experts say the decision proves terror suspects can be tried outside a military court.

By Curt Anderson

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MIAMI – Jose Padilla’s jury gave the Bush administration the biggest victory it could have Thursday, convicting him and two defendants of supporting terrorism. But some legal experts say it was a loss for the government’s argument that it can’t use civilian courts to prosecute hundreds of detainees suspected of being terrorists.

Padilla, a New York native raised in Chicago, and his foreign-born co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were convicted Thursday by a federal jury of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. They were also convicted of two terrorism material support counts, each of which carries a maximum 15-year sentence.

The administration’s preference has been to try accused terrorists at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before a military panel. It says it’s difficult to try such cases in civilian court, where suspects have greater rights and secret and sensitive evidence can’t be presented because the proceedings are public.

“This verdict once again demonstrates that federal courts are perfectly capable of handling terrorism cases,” added Neal Sonnett, a prominent Miami defense lawyer who chairs an American Bar Association task force on treatment of enemy combatants.

“It’s going to be difficult for the government to continue the argument that we need military commissions in Guantanamo Bay because we don’t have other options. Well, how did we convict Jose Padilla?” said Scott Silliman, law professor and director of the Duke University Center on Law, Ethics and National Security.

Padilla, held for 3 years as an enemy combatant, was accused after his 2002 arrest of being part of an al-Qaida plot to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the U.S. Those allegations were not part of his trial, where he was accused of being a recruit for a terrorism support cell who traveled to Afghanistan to attend an al-Qaida training camp.

He, Hassoun and Jayyousi were accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.

The White House thanked the jury for a “just” verdict, and senior Bush administration officials said they were gratified by the jury’s decision.

“The conviction of Jose Padilla – an American who provided material support to terrorists and trained for violent jihad – is a significant victory in our efforts to fight the threat posed by terrorists and their supporters,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a statement issued in Washington.

Instead of bomb-making materials or tape-recorded threats, the best physical evidence prosecutors could come up with against Padilla was a “mujahedeen data form” – basically a bureaucratic al-Qaida registration document – that he filled out for the camp.

It had seven of his fingerprints on it. His lawyers said he might not have touched it until after his arrest, but the connection to Osama bin Laden’s terror organization may have been enough for jurors, who took just 11 hours to reach a verdict after a three-month trial.

“The short deliberation gives at least the impression that the jury basically had its mind made up and bought the government’s depiction of Padilla hook, line and sinker,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, an American University law professor who has closely followed the case.

There was no reaction from any of the defendants when the verdict was read. Padilla, wearing a dark suit and wire-rimmed glasses, stared straight ahead. One person in the family section started to sob when the guilty verdicts were read.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke set a Dec. 5 sentencing date.

Estela Lebron, Padilla’s mother, said outside the courthouse: “The winner is George Bush.” Earlier in the courtroom, she said she felt “a little bit sad” at the verdict but expected her son’s lawyers would appeal.

“I don’t know how they found Jose guilty. There was no evidence, he was speaking in code,” she said, referring to FBI wiretap intercepts in which Padilla was overheard talking to co-defendant Adham Amin Hassoun.

Attorneys for Hassoun and Jayyousi said they intended to appeal. There was no immediate comment from Padilla’s lawyers.

Members of the jury declined interview requests from the media and were escorted out of the courthouse through a side exit by U.S. marshals.

The charges brought in civilian court in Miami were a shadow of those initial dirty bomb claims in part because Padilla was interrogated in a military brig and was not read his Miranda rights.

Padilla’s attorneys fought for years to get his case into federal court, and he was finally added to the Miami terrorism support indictment in late 2005 just as the U.S. Supreme Court was poised to consider Bush’s authority to continue detaining him.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.